A Manitoulin Island high school student has turned her passion for robotics into another children’s book, marking the third installment in her ongoing series. Amara Wilson-Zegil, who attends Manitoulin Secondary School on M’Chigeeng First Nation, first conceived the idea for the latest title while in grade nine, shortly after her own debut on the competition floor. “I just finished my first robotics competition through our robotics team called Manitoulin Metal Team 6865. I had loved the competition so much that I wanted to share my love of not only the competition but also STEM with other people,” she said. “That is where this idea started and went on from there.” Nervous robot enters the arena The book, titled ‘Robofriends and the FIRST Robotics Competition,’ begins with an extremely nervous robot preparing to enter its very first competition. “As we go through the story, we find out what it means to be in your first competition. All the ins and outs if you will,” said Wilson-Zegil. “We get an idea of the pits, where your home base is going to be, what the games are going to be about.” According to the author, throughout the narrative, the main character must navigate the experience of meeting new teams and collaborating with people in many new ways. “We also see our robots play that game; overcome the challenge of learning a new game and following all the rules,” she said. “And at the end, we see a little awards competition.” Hopes for the future All three books in the series have been illustrated by Robyn Ashley-McNaughton, who has worked with Wilson-Zegil across the entire franchise. Wilson-Zegil expressed optimism that the robots will return for another book in the future, hinting at continued growth for the series. Now available Robofriends and the FIRST Robotics Competition is currently available for purchase on Amazon.
